Dryad, Washington

The Doty-Dryad area, before it was settled, was once known as North Prairie.{{cite news |title=Mauermanns Came Century Ago |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/washington/centralia/centralia-daily-chronicle/1953/06-06/page-91 |work=The Centralia Daily Chronicle |access-date=August 2, 2024 |date=June 6, 1953 |page=3D}} The community became known as Salal.{{cite web |title=Lewis County -Dryad |url=https://jtenlen.drizzlehosting.com/walewis/townsal.html |website=jtenlen.drizzlehosting.com |publisher=Lewis Co., WA GenWeb Project}} The name Dryad was supplied by Northern Pacific Railway officials around 1890 at the suggestion of Willam C. Albee, who was superintendent of the Pacific Division of the NP.{{Cite book| last = Majors | first = Harry M. | title = Exploring Washington | publisher = Van Winkle Publishing Co | year = 1975 | page = 115 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CoWrPQAACAAJ| isbn = 978-0-918664-00-6}} In mythology, a dryad was a wood nymph. Albee figured that a dryad might find itself right at home living in the local fir and cedar trees.

File:Dryad, Washington 1900s.jpg

The lands were first settled in 1852 by Joseph and Karolina Mauermann, Austrian immigrants who traveled by wagon train from Missouri. The region was inundated with strands of old growth fir and teemed with abundant wildlife, including cougars which caused issues for farmers attempting to raise cattle. The closest post office at the time was in Olympia, approximately {{convert|50|mi}} away. A post office in Dryad was eventually begun and continued until 1957 when the mail route to the community was absorbed by the post office in Chehalis.{{cite news |last1=Fund |first1=Edna |title=James Family Celebrated 150 Years in Grand Mound in 2002 |url=https://www.chronline.com/stories/james-family-celebrated-150-years-in-grand-mound-in-2002,209427? |access-date=September 25, 2024 |work=The Chronicle |date=July 28, 2007}}

Dryad is one of many former lumber towns that sprang up on the Willapa Harbor Line (Chehalis, Washington to South Bend, Washington) of the Northern Pacific Railway. The town was originally located two miles south of the present location. The community moved when the Leudinghaus brothers of Chehalis built a sawmill at the present site in 1902.

The Dryad Community Baptist Church was built in 1903 and has remained open since its construction.{{cite news |last1=Keaton |first1=Nancy |title=These Walls Do Talk – Old Churches Tell the History of Lewis County |url=http://www.lewistalk.com/2017/03/21/walls-talk-old-churches-tell-history-lewis-county/ |access-date=12 December 2021 |work=LewisTalk |date=March 21, 2017}} Renovations in 2006 were done to the bell tower and roof, with stained glass windows installed in 2018.{{cite news |last1=McClug |first1=Dian |title=Transformed by Grace |url=https://www.chronline.com/stories/transformed-by-grace,185836? |access-date=12 December 2021 |work=The Chronicle (Centralia, Washington) |date=September 28, 2009}}

This region experiences warm (but not hot) and dry summers, with no average monthly temperatures above 71.6 °F. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Dryad has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate, abbreviated "Csb" on climate maps.[http://www.weatherbase.com/weather/weather-summary.php3?s=352254&cityname=Dryad%2C+Washington%2C+United+States+of+America&units= Climate Summary for Dryad, Washington]

The annual Pe Ell River Run passes through Dryad. Held since 1978, the event consists of entrants buying or building water crafts and floating down the Chehalis River from Pe Ell to Rainbow Falls State Park, which is one mile due east of the town. Riders can float over a slight waterfall that still remains despite severe flooding damage due to the Great Coastal Gale of 2007.{{cite news |last1=Brown |first1=Alex |title=Swollen Chehalis Doesn't Impede River Run Revelry |url=https://www.chronline.com/stories/swollen-chehalis-doesnt-impede-river-run-revelry,18075? |access-date=31 December 2021 |work=The Chronicle |date=April 17, 2018}}{{cite news |last1=Collucci |first1=Paula |title=Pe Ell River Runners Hit the Rapids |url=https://www.chronline.com/stories/pe-ell-river-runners-hit-the-rapids,191122? |access-date=31 December 2021 |work=The Chronicle |date=April 13, 2009}}

The Willapa Hills Trail passes through the town.{{cite web |title=Willapa Hills State Park Trail |url=https://parks.state.wa.us/DocumentCenter/View/7573/Willapa-Hills-Map?bidId= |website=parks.state.wa.us |publisher=Washington State Parks |access-date=December 12, 2021 |archive-date=July 28, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210728053513/https://parks.state.wa.us/DocumentCenter/View/7573/Willapa-Hills-Map?bidId= |url-status=dead }}

Dryad has historically voted as favoring the Republican Party and Conservatism. As this is an unincorporated community, there are no defined bounds, and the precinct may be incongruous with the census boundaries.

The 2020 election included 2 votes for candidates of the Libertarian Party.

Dryad once had a school that taught all levels, from elementary to high school. After two consolidations with the Pe Ell school district in the late-1930s and during World War II, the schoolhouse became an apartment building.{{cite news |last1=VanTuyl |first1=Aaron |title=Class is out, but the building remains |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/washington/centralia/centralia-chronicle/2006/03-04 |access-date=January 27, 2025 |work=The Chronicle |date=March 4, 2006 |pages=A1, A12}}

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{{Lewis County, Washington}}

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Category:Populated places in Lewis County, Washington

Category:Unincorporated communities in Lewis County, Washington

Category:Unincorporated communities in Washington (state)

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